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Education is at a Crossroads: Help Us Illuminate the Path Forward.听

Clarification appended Nov. 25

Compared to others who have held the post, Linda McMahon, President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 choice to run the U.S. Department of Education, has a resume thin on school expertise. She made that clear when she auditioned for her first education leadership job in 2009.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 come before you today as an educator,鈥� she told a Connecticut legislative committee reviewing her appointment to join the State Board of Education. 鈥淚 make no bones about that.鈥�

She said her plans to teach French after college fell away when she became pregnant with her first child, Shane, according to a reviewed by 麻豆精品. And she defended the place where she spent the bulk of her career, as head of a worldwide pro wrestling enterprise, even as one member called it a detriment to 鈥渢he fabric of our society.鈥� 

But she also had strong opinions about the ills of American education 鈥� in particular, growing racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps 鈥� and what it would take to reverse them. 

鈥淚 think that every child ought to have the opportunity for equal education,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat means that their teachers should be equally prepared to teach, that the curriculum ought to be the same across the board.鈥�

McMahon’s views fit squarely into the era鈥檚 GOP mainstream. , who had just left office, embraced the belief that the federal government played a critical role in uplifting students in low-income communities. That was the heart of No Child Left Behind, the landmark reform law that held schools accountable for reducing achievement gaps. She was a fan of public school choice, particularly charters, but considered private school the realm of families who could 鈥渁fford it.鈥� 

Fifteen years later, McMahon鈥檚 nomination signals just how far the GOP has strayed from seeing the federal government as an instrument for improving education. She鈥檚 chair of a conservative think tank that seeks to eliminate progressive ideas in the classroom and says parents should be able to spend public funds on any school they choose.

鈥淭he Department of Education was really focused on substantive policy challenges, like teacher evaluation and persistent socioeconomic and racial achievement gaps,鈥� said Patrick McGuinn, an education and political science professor at Drew University in New Jersey, who wrote on NCLB. 鈥淭hese problems all still exist, but now the conversation has just completely shifted to things like [transgender] bathroom access and book bans.鈥�

McMahon鈥檚 time on the board was brief, about a year 鈥� a moment that offers little insight into how she would approach the nation鈥檚 top education post. Some accused her of using her seat as a to Congress, a perch she failed to reach in two separate bids. Others saw her leap into politics, including her role in Trump鈥檚 first administration, as a chance to escape the high-profile image of her Vince McMahon, who built World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE, into a .

Whether her service on the state board matters to senators who will shepherd her confirmation remains to be seen. The fact that she that her degree was in education when she completed a questionnaire for that position might resurface.

To Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the incoming chair of the education committee, her as head of the Small Business Administration could 鈥渙bviously help.鈥� 

During her tenure, she promoted the , which benefited employers, and hustled to distribute to businesses in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. She was a 鈥渜uick study,鈥� said Molly Day, spokeswoman for the National Small Business Association.

鈥淪he didn鈥檛 come 鈥� with a vast experience in the small-business world, but she got up to speed on what SBA does and why their programs are important,鈥� Day said. But its budget, just over $1 billion, is a small fraction of the $238 billion allotted to the education department. 鈥淭he two agencies are so vastly different, and I suspect the directive from the White House 鈥�will also be very different.鈥�

Some senators will also question whether she鈥檚 fit to oversee an agency responsible for protecting students from sexual misconduct. In a lawsuit filed in October, she and her husband were of looking the other way while young boys working for WWE were sexually molested by a one-time announcer for the organization. 

鈥淎 cabinet post could be seen as a way to cement her own legacy away from [Vince], especially given his recent legal issues,鈥� said CarrieLynn Reinhard, a communications researcher at Dominican University in Chicago and part of a of academics who study pro wrestling.

鈥楲ost trust鈥�

McMahon, a leader of Trump’s transition team, donated to his campaign, heading up a super PAC, America First Action, and shaping the agenda for a second term as chair of America First Policy Institute. Until recently, it was a lesser-known think tank, but its echo familiar GOP talking points: promoting universal school choice, tying fewer strings to federal funds and splitting the education department鈥檚 key functions across multiple agencies. 

Trump has also nominated its founder Brooke Rollins to . And Laurie Todd-Smith, who leads the institute鈥檚 Center for Education Opportunity could be 鈥渋n the mix for a position at the department鈥� as well, said Heath Brown, an associate professor of public policy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Her very recent statements about the department are in agreement with the longstanding views of conservatives.”

Shortly after the election, Todd-Smith on X about how to gut the department 鈥渄own to the studs.鈥�

Neither the Trump transition team nor the institute responded to requests for comment.

McMahon鈥檚 evolution tracks that of the GOP as a whole, from a party that joined with Democrats to give the federal government the power to hold schools accountable to one that is deeply partisan and mistrustful of intervention from Washington.

The Obama administration鈥檚 efforts to prescribe specific school reform policies contributed to the shift. The department鈥檚 Race to the Top competition, a $4.3 billion effort that pushed states to adopt and tie student test scores to , came under frequent attack.

While on the Connecticut board, McMahon voted to from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help states compete for those funds. But times have changed. Bill Gates became the subject of debunked听听about implanting microchips through vaccines, and conservatives now accuse the foundation of promoting听听in schools.

To many , those Obama-era policies demonstrated blatant government overreach. 

鈥淧eople did not like education, and the performance of their schools, reduced to test scores,鈥� said Neal McCluskey, director of the libertarian Cato Institute鈥檚 Center for Educational Freedom. 鈥淎nd they did not like the federal government starting to dictate even what would be taught.鈥� 

The architects of NCLB say conservatives place too much blame on the department for flat and declining achievement. Sandy Kress, who advised Bush, said it鈥檚 鈥渓azy thinking鈥� to say there鈥檚 been no progress in student achievement since 1979, when the department began. Data shows there were both periods of growth on the as well as decline. Fourth grade math, for example, saw a steady increase in average scores between 1990 and 2009. Performance was flat for the next decade and then dropped after the pandemic.

“The department in and of itself isn’t much of a causal agent,鈥� he said. 

But the school closures and mask mandates that marked the pandemic only intensified feelings that officials in Washington were out of touch. Suddenly, conservatives鈥� calls to eliminate the department became more central to the GOP agenda. 

鈥淚t’s not about Republicans hating education. I think that’s often how it gets portrayed,鈥� said Neeraja Deshpande, a policy analyst with the Independent Women鈥檚 Forum, a conservative organization. 鈥淚t’s more that Republicans have lost trust in these institutions to do a good job of educating children.鈥�

One reason the nation saw a rightward shift in this year鈥檚 election, including among , she said, was because parents in low-income minority communities questioned why their children鈥檚 schools were still closing for in early 2022. Families in wealthier neighborhoods, meanwhile, opted for .

Remote learning gave parents a window into what students were learning 鈥� material that didn鈥檛 always align with conservative views. With many parents already reeling from months of remote learning, conservative groups like Moms for Liberty found a receptive audience when they said bureaucrats, from the top down, lacked transparency about 鈥渨oke鈥� curriculum, library books they deemed inappropriate for children and policies related to students鈥� gender identity.

Culture war battles also sparked a conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion, which some blame for crowding out efforts to improve outcomes for minority students. The think tank McMahon chairs has the Biden administration鈥檚 鈥渨hole-of-government鈥� focus on equity and called for removing references to DEI in federal grants.

鈥淭he culture war attack on DEI has manifested itself into a disdain for anything that has to do with race, including talking about the very real disparities that exist in student achievement in our country,鈥� said Stefan Lallinger, executive director at Next100, a progressive think tank affiliated with The Century Foundation. 

The right鈥檚 solution to failing schools 鈥� what they often call 鈥渆ducation freedom鈥� 鈥� finds support among minorities. A from EdChoice, an advocacy group, shows at least three-quarters of Black parents favor vouchers and education savings accounts, which can be used for homeschooling or private school. Black families in Arizona and Georgia have taken advantage of their states鈥� private school choice programs to open and attend microschools where they think their children are better served.

But others are concerned that the push for vouchers will contribute to segregation. Families with more means can make up the difference between a $7,000 ESA, for example, and the full cost of private school tuition. A recent identified 39 North Carolina private schools, most of them predominantly white, that have received over $20 million in state voucher funds in just the past three years. 

鈥嬧�嬧�滻t should not be controversial to say 鈥� that as a nation, we should be ashamed of racial segregation, economic segregation,鈥� Lallinger said. 鈥淲e used to be able to agree that those are not things that make America look good.鈥�

鈥楢 mandate on the table鈥�

In 2009, McMahon voiced the same concern. 

鈥淪egregation of schools is wrong and inappropriate and every child ought to have equal opportunity,鈥� she told the committee voting on her appointment to the Connecticut board. A 1996 state supreme court decision in a long-running , she said, 鈥渃learly put a mandate on the table鈥� to eliminate racial isolation for students. 

Her and her husband鈥檚 philanthropic efforts have focused on programs serving poor and minority students. Since 2017, show their family foundation has donated over $1 million to , which predominantly serves Black and Hispanic students. During her confirmation hearing in Connecticut, she described the 鈥渆nthusiasm and respectful demeanor鈥� of students at the charter network鈥檚 , which scores above those in the surrounding New Haven district and showed more growth in reading last year than its peers statewide. 

Other grant recipients include the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford, Connecticut, and named for Thad Bullard 鈥� also known as WWE star Titus O鈥橬eil, who overcame homelessness to become a successful NFL football player before his switch to pro wrestling. Funding from the McMahons went toward where 30,000 students received backpacks, school supplies, haircuts and health checkups.

Phuong Nguyen, executive director of the Tampa, Florida-area Bullard Family Foundation, said she鈥檚 never met the McMahons, but their donation 鈥渉elped us tremendously 鈥� by funding the largest back-to-school bash in the country.鈥�

Projecting WWE鈥檚 service to the community 鈥� and its talent 鈥� was critical to McMahon, said Lowery Woodall III, an expert on the wrestling industry. Several years ago, he invited filmmaker , director of the 1999 documentary , to speak to his class at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, where he鈥檚 an associate communications and theater professor. 

The behind-the-scenes look offered an honest portrayal of issues like steroid abuse and the physical damage wrestlers endure in a spectacle that, due mostly to intense from the McMahons, isn鈥檛 regulated like pro sports. But what stuck in Woodall鈥檚 mind was how Blaustein described Linda McMahon鈥檚 reaction to the film. She complained that the footage missed the fun and camaraderie the 鈥渟uperstars鈥� experience outside the ring. 

鈥淪he had a very particular vision that was important to her to put out into the world about the company,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he was willing to overlook all of the very real issues that might exist 鈥� to support that vision.鈥�

A decade later, she left WWE to enter politics, allowing her, Woodall said, to move 鈥渁way from the shadow and the specter of Vince McMahon鈥� and the company鈥檚 scandals. Those include of sexual assault and sex trafficking against her husband, which led him to resign as head of TKO, owner of WWE, this past January.

Most recently, the nation heard from McMahon when she spoke at the . In her five-minute speech, she didn鈥檛 mention schools once. But Kress and others hope she鈥檒l use her influence with Trump to address stubborn , which only worsened during the pandemic.

鈥淚 hope she says, 鈥楳r. President, we should believe in results. You got a lot of votes from African Americans and Hispanics, and you care about lifting people up,鈥� 鈥� he said. 鈥淭he move from where we were to where we are is not necessarily permanent. I think it’s well past time for the pendulum to swing back.鈥�

麻豆精品’s senior writer Kevin Mahnken contributed to this report.

Disclosure: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to 麻豆精品.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story contained a quote suggesting that Linda McMahon and her husband Vince might seek pardons from President-elect Donald Trump. A president can only grant pardons for federal criminal offenses.

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